I'm getting a great deal of pleasure out of hearing Christopher Hitchens reading his memoir "Hitch-22", which serves as a consolation over the latest episode of Supernatural (which I had to stop watching 15 minutes in, partly because I was too tired from other tv watching, partly because of the bad jokes) and what seems a sharp turn for the soap opera-ish in the third season of Fringe. I'm still behind a handful of episodes, so I haven't ventured into any season 3 discussions to find out if other people have been as deflated by the writing, or if this is more of a personal thing. Right now Fringe is the one tv series that both me and Mr. L both enjoy (have enjoyed) and we're dismayed at the second half of this season.

I told Mr. L about my enjoyment of "Hitch-22" and he was intrigued enough that he might give it a listen as well. I knew very little of Christopher Hitchens before, beyond the basic atheist banner he waves around and that he wrote extensively in support of the Iraq invasion, which makes my head hurt. Oh, and his reputation as a big boozer, but that's more from a couple of older friends who are familiar with his writing. I don't believe I'd ever heard his name before 2001. I was expecting some family background and some gossipy tales of boozing it up with big name writers, all done in a very entertaining style. I'm getting all of that, but I didn't expect the very compelling story of his mother, his extreme left wing politics in the 60s and his recollections of a great (but mostly chaste) romance he had with another boy during his boarding school days. I'm still in the memoir somewhere around 1974, so I couldn't explain to Mr. L how Hitchens managed to become someone who is viewed as conservative. I saw Hitchens labeled as a neocon when he debated Chris Hedges, but he doesn't sound like a neocon to me, at least not yet. Very interested to hear the rest.

Finished hearing "Eating Animals". Felt like another push in changing how I eat, but ask me about it in 3 months to see if I really changed my habits, because right now I full of easy disgust, horror and pissed-off-ness at factory farming, and cannot be trusted to not be talking out of my ass.

Next up, "Hitch-22" by Christopher Hitchens. He should be pretty entertaining and the kind of author that Mr. L can't stand, what with the general dickishness he cultivates in himself. Um, that would be Hitchens, not Mr. L. Mr. L just looks puzzled and a little disappointed anytime I spend time with someone like Hitchens. It's something like the ongoing mini-conversations we've had about Anthony Bourdain, although Bourdain is more of a clown and has grown on Mr. L. in small measures by my streaming of older No Reservations episodes. He will pop his head into the TV room once in a while, look at the screen and then pronounce "I don't like him", then leave the room. It's nicer than what he used to say.

Had credits waiting to be used on Audible, so this morning I downloaded "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer and "Hitch-22" by Christopher Hitchens. A lot of the time I favor books read by the authors themselves, although I have to say my favorite audiobook of all time (so far) has been Susanna Clarke's "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell", read by the wonderful Simon Prebble. But a close second is David Foster Wallace reading his (abridged) collection of essays, "Consider The Lobster." I find DFW's voice so soothing sometimes, even as he describes the offputting ambiance surrounding the AVN awards, the porn industry's Oscars.

I haven't downloaded and listened to any podfics in a while. It feels like I'm just taking a break, until I find myself in a new fandom and I must consume as much fic as quickly as possible.

It was weird to have the same voice that I remember reading the Juarez part of Bolaños "2666" showing up in a much less spooky book, "The Passage" by Justin Cronin. It's one of those books that show up on the first table right as you walk into a Borders or Barnes&Noble, where I discovered to my horror that Glenn Beck is also now a novelist.

I downloaded "The Passage" hoping for a sort of "The Stand" redux, done at least as well as that book turned out to be. I loved it as a teenager. Was it 20 years ago already since "The Stand" was published? More? Anyway, I still think of King's novel as the most fun you can have while you read about the end of the world. I'm at almost at a quarter of the way through, and the author seems to have decided that descriptions of the world falling apart have been done enough times. I'm a bit disappointed, but yeah, he handles it pretty well by only giving glimpses, which in a some ways is a lot scarier.

I just realized I haven't downloaded podfic in a while. I have to go and see what's been posted in the last few months. So many things to listen to! Podfics, audiobooks and podcasts (Spill and /Filmcast are my current favorites), but only so much time to listen.

Do no, do not if you can help it, read/listen to a translated version of Bolaño's 2666. I'm reading it in Spanish and have the audiobook in English, which I was listening to and from work. Mistake! When I got to part four and all the characters are Mexican, the English translation was missing a lot of the flavor. As I said, duh! How could this have been such a surprise? I think about translations and dubbing and language all the time. I guess I was just hoping this time it would be different, and I was excited to have had been able to download audible's file for only about 7 dollars and get completely into the novel even as I was driving.

I think part one of 2666, the one about The Critics, works in English sort of OK, but the closer I got in the narrative to the town of Santa Teresa, the more I realized I had to dump the audiobook. Hrrmp!

Now I need to download some podfic, to listen to instead.